rosemary, parmesan, and black pepper scones

My mom likes to tell me that I inherited everything from her. My eye shape, my thick hair, my affinity to food. But if there’s one thing that she has and I don’t, it’s her sweet tooth. My mom is one of those people who always has a few hard candies in her bag, just in case. In the mornings, she never eats salty foods and at night she still prefers a danish to something savory. I remember being terribly offended when I first learned how to make hummus and offered to spread it on her toast in the morning. She declined and grabbed a jar of strawberry jam instead. Eventually I got used to our differing taste preferences and now when we’re at the bakery I independently make my way through the rolls and bagels while Mom picks through the muffins, scones, and danishes and Sister picks up her boring glazed donuts.

When I made these savory scones I was anticipating being able to hoard them all to myself, but as luck would have it my mom took a liking to them and I had to make a second batch so we’d have enough to go around. I’m sure you guys will find this recipe is heavily tweaked, flavorings-wise, from Kristina’s original recipe, but that should come as no surprise considering it is me we’re talking about.

You might notice that I’ve begun putting rosemary into places it’s not called for and that’s because I’ve acquired a live plant from which to snip fragrant leaves and stick up my nose cook with. I have a pasta sauce recipe where I substituted marjoram for rosemary, and found it equally delightful, but butt-ugly. Isn’t sad how incongruously ugly sauces tend to be?

In a bowl combine your flour, baking powder, and salt. Then using your fingers, rub in the cubes of butter until you have that ‘peas & crackers’ consistency we all know and love. It should look a little shaggy with pea-sized chunks of butter spread evenly through.

Toss in the parmesan, black pepper, and rosemary and mix thoroughly with your fingers. Create a well in the middle and pour in the buttermilk, mixing everything with your fingers until you have a big mass. It might not stay together that well, but thats okay, just pat it together and then cut it into whatever size you desire. (I made two balls of dough and cut each into 6 triangles.)

Put your scones on a baking sheet lined with something (silicone mat, parchment) and then throw them, not literally, into the oven for 18-20 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Remove from oven and eat while warm, flaky, and delicious. If you end up having leftovers you must be insane microwave until warm before eating them.

Variations:-Instead of parmesan, you could use pecorino, or any other non-melty cheese you really like.
-You could omit the rosemary or swap in some thyme, marjoram, basil. I’d recommend going the fresh route, though.
-And if you don’t have buttermilk in your house, like I usually don’t, you could substitute in 1/2 cup milk and and 1/4 cup of yogurt, like the original recipe calls for.